Head of Supply Chain, NA
at Carl Zeiss Vision Inc.
in
Hebron,
Kentucky

Job Description:

HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN, NA

HEBRON, KENTUCKY

Step out of your comfort zone, excel and redefine the limits of what is possible. That s just what our employees are doing every single day in order to set the pace through our innovations and enable outstanding achievements. After all, behind every successful company are many great fascinating people.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED SUPPLY CHAIN LEADER:

The Head of Supply Chain is a director level position responsible for leading a team of individuals in both North America and Mexico. This role is accountable for all activities related to the supply of goods from the point of planning and procurement through distribution, along with the development of a demand forecast that is used in sales and operation planning (S&OP) process to achieves focused, aligned and synchronized activities among all functions of the organization. This is accomplished through the development of processes to support service and financial targets through monitoring forecast accuracy, production capacity, distribution, and inventory levels to ensure that the objectives are achieved.
1. Duties
a. Ensure high delivery service for all equipment, accessories, stocked lenses, lenses manufactured in Carl Zeiss Vision factories or purchased from 3rd party suppliers for North America and Tijuana, Mexico
b. Ensure optimized inventory levels in the entire North American supply network (raw materials, distribution center inventories, lens inventories of assigned big warehouses) and in customer warehouses managed by Carl Zeiss Vision
c. Ensure alignment of demand and manufacturing capacities, trigger capacity adaptions
d. Ensure continuous improvements within the organization and processes of responsibility
e. Ensure implementation and execution of global supply chain standards and processes within North America
f. Create efficiencies within North American supply network to ensure profitable, on-time and safe delivery of product
g. Responsible for inbound and outbound freight and carrier negotiations
h. Contributing to all North American top management strategic business discussions relating to, but not limited to, facilities planning, capital investment, distribution plans and personnel
i. Work closely with the CZV Leadership Team and their staff to address strategic business issues and help chart the company s future direction
j. Manage analysis and forecasting development for Carl Zeiss Vision North America
k. Lead process optimization projects
l. Ensure target-oriented process execution
m. Manage or monitor implementation of new supplier arrangements, ensuring minimal business disruption
n. Trigger, define and steer external purchasing scenarios and capabilities in close alignment with procurement
o. Keep close alignment with other departments such as procurement, IT, product management, production, suppliers and customers
p. Prioritize conflicting demands based on agreed rule-sets
q. Improve demand and supply forecast provided by internal and external customers
r. Offer special Supply Chain Services to internal and external customers (e.g. Vendor Managed inventory service VMI )
s. Collaborate with the IBP-team for phase-in and phase-out of lenses
t. Propose structural changes to the supply network
u. Design and implement standard planning and scheduling processes and drive standardization and tool harmonization
v. Improve and implement regional standards for warehousing and logistics practices
w. Comply with company governance

2. Leadership
a. Ensure an efficient organizational structure and workflows in the area of responsibility
b. Develop the North American supply chain team from a regional structure into a process oriented global structure
c. Conduct, motivate, assess, control and develop the subordinate employees in accordance with the company's management principles
d. Ensure the required employee qualification
e. Propose salary adjustments and participate in decisions on individual personnel measures (in consultation with the personnel department)

YOU ARE:

1. A minimum of a bachelor s degree in engineering, SCM, logistics, business management or comparable degree; an advanced degree is preferred. Work experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
2. Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in a Supply Chain related function.
3. Minimum of 2 years of experience with international projects and/or teams.
4. Minimum of 5 years of experience in a leadership role.
5. Planning and Scheduling, experience with planning high number of variants in multiple levels of detail
6. Bilingual: English/Spanish
7. Working knowledge of Mexican labor laws and business etiquette preferred.
8. Knowledge of generally accepted carrier negotiations, shipping, warehousing and inventory control practice, including safety regulations, Customer Service practices, Human Resources policies, and computerized ordering and inventory tracking systems; all of which is normally acquired through 8-10 years experience in Distribution and/or Customer Service in a consumer products industry or equivalent.
9. Experience with CT-PAT Certification preferred
10. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
11. Strong communication skills
12. Project Management skills
13. Experience in redesign and implementation of processes
14. Good knowledge of common IT solutions within the area of SCM/Logistics
15. Good level of SAP knowledge
16. High customer orientation
17. Leadership skills
18. Ability to work in teams (internally as well as with customers, commercials and supplying units)
19. Negotiation skills
20. Willingness to travel (domestic and international)
21. Experience with the optical lens supply chain management is a plus In a spacious modern setting full of opportunities for further development, ZEISS employees work in a place where expert knowledge and team spirit reign supreme. All of this is supported by a special ownership structure and the long-term goal of the Carl Zeiss Foundation: to bring science and society into the future together.